Air conditioning units for openings in walls



P. B MOORE March 10, 1964 AIR CONDITIONING UNITS FOR OPENINGS IN WALLS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 2', 1962 [awe/Z02 PauZ llMoove,

W a C7 P. B. MOORE March 10, 1964 AIR CONDITIONING UNITS FOR OPENINGS IN WALLS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 2 Paul B.Moo2 e,

P. B. MOORE March 10, 1964 3,123,987

AIR CONDITIONING UNITS FOR OPENINGS IN WALLS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 2, 1962 I220 lauZ B. Maur e, by w J 9% flii'or iaqy United States Patent ()fihce 3,123,987 Patented Mar. 10, 1964 3,123,987 AIR CUNDETHGNENG UNITS FUR OPENINGS EN WALLS Paul B. Moore, taunton, Va, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Qorporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed July 2, 1962, Ser. No. 206,967 Claims. (ill. 62-263) This invention relates to air conditioning units, and relates more particularly to air conditioning units for buildings having no attics or basements.

Air conditioning units for cooling all of the interior spaces of residences as distinguished from so-called room coolers and window box units which can effectively cool individual rooms only, have usually been installed in the attics or cellars of residences, with their outlets connected by ducts to the rooms of the residences. Many modern residences do not have attics or cellars so that it is a problent to find space in which to locate air conditioning units.

This invention provides a compact air conditioning unit so arranged and shaped that its indoor coil and fan or fans are located within an opening in an exterior wall of a building, and the refrigerant compressor of the unit and its outdoor coil and fan are located on the outside of the wall. Such a unit can be located in a so called crawl space or other space near the ground level of a building.

A feature of this invention is that the air conditioning unit is supported from a sleeve within the opening in the building wall, the indoor section of the unit being slidable into the sleeve from the outside.

An object of this invention is to reduce the space required for air conditioning units.

Another object of this invention is to support a sleeve in an opening in an exterior Wall of a building, to locate the indoor section of the unit 'within the sleeve, and to support the unit from the sleeve.

This invention will now be described with reference to the annexed drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a side view, in section, of an air conditioning unit embodying this invention, supported from a sleeve within an opening in an exterior wall of a building;

FIG. 2 is a front end view of the unit as seen from the interior of the building;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, exploded view, in section, showing how the sleeve is attached to the building wall, and showing the casing of the indoor section of the unit lined up with the sleeve preparatory to being slid into the sleeve, the components within the casing being omitted, and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing how the unit is attached to the sleeve.

The air conditioning unit has a vertically extending structural plate with vertically extending structural angles 11 secured to its side edges. An outdoor casing 12 is attached to the angles 11, and has upper and lower, back wall portions 9 extending between the angles 11. Supported within the casing 12 are a hermetic refrigerant compressor 13, an outdoor coil 14, an axial flow, outdoor fan driven by an electric motor 16, and an accumulator 17.

Attached to the back side of the plate it is a pair of spaced-apart, vertically extending, structural angles 18, the bottoms of which end just above the bottom of the casing 12, and the tops of which end considerably short of the top of the casing 12. Attached to the lower ends of the angles 13 is a pair of spaced-apart structural angles which extend horizontally inward. Attached to the in ner ends of the angles 20 is a pair of spaced-apart structural angles 21 which extend vertically to about one-half the height of the angles 18. Attached to the angles 18, 20 and 21 is an inner casing 22 which has an open front or inner end.

Supported within the casing 22 are an indoor coil 25, a pair of spaced-apart, centrifugal fans 26 below the coil 25, and an electric motor 27 located midway between the fans 26 and connected to the shafts of their rotors. The motor 27 is supported by plates 29 from a drain pan 30 below the coil 25. Outlets 32 of the fans 26 extend through the bottom of the pan 3%). The fans 26 have axial inlets 33 in their outer sides.

Tubing 34 connects the compressor 13, the outdoor coil 14, the accumulator 17 and the indoor coil 25 in a con ventional refrigeration circuit which is not shown, of a heat pump, or of an air cooling unit.

An exterior wall 35 of a building containing rooms to be supplied with conditioned air, has a rectangular opening formed therein in which is snugly fitted a conformally shaped metal sleeve 36. The sleeve 36 is inserted within the opening in the wall 35 from the outside, and has flanges 37 on the side edges of its outer end in contact with the exterior surface of the wall 35. The flanges 37 have threaded nuts 38 spot welded to their inner sides, and have openings spaced outwardly from the nuts 38 through which extend lag screws 39 threaded into sleeves 4% in openings provided therefor in the wall 35, and which support the sleeve to the wall as shown by FIG. 3 of the drawings.

Top and bottom panels 42 and 43 respectively, and side panels i iextend around the sleeve 36. The inner end of the sleeve 36 has an upper, rectangular, air outlet opening 45 aligned with the indoor coil 25, with an inwardly extending flange 46 around the opening 45 for connection to a conditioned air supply duct which is not shown. The inner end of the sleeve 36 also has a lower, rectangular, recirculated air inlet opening 48 below and aligned with the opening 45, with an inwardly extending flange 49 around the opening 43 for connection to a recirculated air duct which is not shown.

The inner casing 22 is attached at its outer end to the inner ends of generally Z-shaped, structural angles Si by bolts 51 which extend through openings in the angles 56), the casing 22 and the angles 18 into threaded nuts 52 which are spot welded to the inner sides of the angles 18. The angles 5i) have vertically spaced-apart openings 53 for the reception of bolts 55 which are to be threaded into the nuts 38 for attaching the air conditioning unit to the sleeve 36. The lower portion of FIG. 3 of the drawings shows the inner casing 22 with an angle $9 attached thereto, aligned with the sleeve 36 in the wall 35 just prior to being slid into the sleeve from the exterior of the wall 35. Vertically extending seals 57 of resilient, rubberlike material are adhesively attached to the inner sides of the horizontally extending portions of the angles 55 and have clearance openings for the bolts 55' and the lag screws 39.

The flanges 37 of the sleeve 36 have adhesively attached to their outer sides seals 59 of material similar to that of the seals 57. Another similar, horizontally extending seal 60 is adhesively attached to the back side of the plate it? at the top of the latter. Similar seals at are adhesively attached to the back side of the plate It and extend between the ends of the seals 59 and The inner casing 22 with the outer casing 12 attached thereto as described in the foregoing, is slid horizontally into the sleeve 36 as shown by FIGS. 1 and 4, with the seals 59 between and in contact with the flanges 37 and the back side of the plate it]; with the seal as between and in contact with the back side of the plate lit and the outer surface of the building wall 35, and with the seals 57 between and in contact with the inner sides of the horizonof the angles 50 and the outer sides of the flanges 37. The bolts 55 are then threaded into the nuts 38 for securing the inner casing 22 and the outer casing 12 attached thereto, to the sleeve 36 attached to the Wall 35.

In operation, the outdoor fan 15 recirculates outdoor air through openings which are not shown in the outer casing 12, over the outdoor coil, and the indoor fans 26 recirculate indoor air through the openings 45 and 48 and any ducts connected thereto, over the indoor coil 25.

What is claimed, is:

1. In combination with a building having an exterior Wall with an opening extending therethrough, an air con ditioning unit having an indoor section Within said opening, said indoor secton including an indoor heat exchange coil and an indoor fan, said unit having an outdoor section including an outdoor heat exchange coil, an outdoor fan and a refrigerant compressor, means connecting said coils and said compressor in a refrigeration circuit, said unit having a partition separating said sections and connected to said sections and extending vertically along the exterior surface of said wall beyond said opening.

2. In combination with a building having an exterior wall with an opening extending therethrough, an air conditioning unit having an indoor section within said opening, said indoor secton including an indoor heat exchange coil and an indoor fan, said unit having an outdoor section extending along the exterior surface of said wall, said outdoor section including an outdoor heat exchange coil, an outdoor fan and a refrigerant compressor, means conmeeting said coils and said compressor in a refrigeration circuit, means supporting said indoor section from said wall, said unit having a partition separating said sections and connected to said sections and extending vertically along the exterior surface of said wall beyond said opening, and means supporting said outdoor section from said indoor section.

3. In combination with a building having an exterior Wall with an opening extending therethrough, a metal sleeve Within said opening, means attaching said sleeve to to said Wall, an air conditioning unit having an indoor section within said sleeve, said indoor section including an indoor heat exchange coil and an indoor fan, means attaching said indoor section to said sleeve, said unit having an outdoor section extending along the exterior surface of said wall, said outdoor section including an outdoor heat exchange coil, an outdoor fan and a refrigerant tally extending portions i compressor, means connecting said coils and said compressor in a refrigeration circuit, said unit having a partition separating said sections and connected to said sections and extending vertically along the exterior surface of said wall beyond said opening, and means supporting said outdoor section from said indoor section.

4. In combination with a building having an exterior wall with an opening extending therethrough, a metal sleeve within said opening, means attaching said sleeve to said Wall, an air conditioning unit having an indoor section within said sleeve, said indoor section including an indoor heat exchange coil and an indoor fan, said unit having an outdoor section extending along the exterior surface of said wall, said outdoor section including an outdoor heat exchange coil, an outdoor fan and a refrigerant compressor, means connecting said coils and said compressor in a refrigeration circuit, said unit having a partition separating said sections and connected to said sections and extending vertically along the exterior surface of said Wall beyond said opening, and means attaching said indoor and outdoor sections to each other and to said sleeve.

5. In combination with a building having an exterior Wall with an opening extending therethrough, a metal sleeve within said wall, said sleeve having flange portions in contact with the exterior surface of said wall, means attaching said flange portions to said Wall, an air conditioning unit having an indoor section within said sleeve, said indoor section including an indoor heat exchange coil and an indoor fan, said unit having an outdoor section extending along the exterior surface of said wall, said outdoor section including an outdoor heat exchange coil, an outdoor fan and a refrigerant compressor, means connecting said coils and said compressor in a refrigeration circuit, said unit having a partition separating said sections and connected to said sections and extending vertically along the exterior surface of said Wall beyond said opening, and means attaching said outdoor and indoor sections to each other and to said flange portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A BUILDING HAVING AN EXTERIOR WALL WITH AN OPENING EXTENDING THERETHROUGH, AN AIR CONDITIONING UNIT HAVING AN INDOOR SECTION WITHIN SAID OPENING, SAID INDOOR SECTION INCLUDING AN INDOOR HEAT EXCHANGE COIL AND AN INDOOR FAN, SAID UNIT HAVING AN OUTDOOR SECTION INCLUDING AN OUTDOOR HEAT EXCHANGE COIL, AN OUTDOOR FAN AND A REFRIGERANT COMPRESSOR, MEANS CONNECTING SAID COILS AND SAID COMPRESSOR IN A REFRIGERATION CIRCUIT, SAID UNIT HAVING A PARTITION SEPARATING SAID SECTIONS AND CONNECTED TO SAID SECTIONS AND EXTENDING VERTICALLY ALONG THE EXTERIOR SURFACE OF SAID WALL BEYOND SAID OPENING. 